The End Of Stuff


Walking through the local mega-mall, I was struck by the dynamics. As has long been the case, the place was teeming with the shoperati of Canberra. The same families with 2.5 kids. The gaggles of teenagers. The shuffling older couples. All accounted for. Having sucked the life out of the nearby shopping strip, the place retains its status as the place to be on a cold and windy Saturday. Everything as it should be. The generally high-paid community going about the business ...

Who do I owe?


Greece is stuffed. So, the Greeks have to be austere. If the people of Greece are anything like my Greek friends, austerity will not go down well. Alongside their extraordinary dedication to family, their commitment to living life well is in their DNA. America needs to up their debt level pronto or government grinds to a halt. That’s hospitals, cops, schools, courts, etc. Watching these stories unfold, my wandering mind wandered back to an interview with a bank boss about his decision ...

Smarter – Chapter 1


There was a time when a baby was born and things were left to chance. When Jakob’s great-grandparents were born. But that was more than one hundred and fifty years ago. Jakob will not enjoy the winds of serendipity. Jake is not concerned about that. He is happy to have a son and he is happy that he will be starting smarter. It’s all plusses for Jake. Glory is happy to have a son. She is happy that he will be starting smarter but she still harbors a secret wish that he could chart his own course. She understands that this is an entirely normal feeling after having a baby. But at Beatrice Barranger hospital on July 12, 2135, none of this really mattered. It was what it was. It couldn’t be changed. Jake and Glory were not the types to rock any boats. They were focused ...

Rank Outsider


Acknowledgements When I first joined the force I was expecting to be chasing criminals down the streets of New York. I didn’t think that it would lead to likes of Barry Sanders. As a cop, you get a sixth sense about people. You can tell when someone has done the crime. You can also smell the innocent. With Sanders, I didn’t know either way. As is common knowledge, there was all the evidence in the world. It was only Sanders that could have done it. There was no doubt about that. But having spent many hours with the man, it never fitted. If we did not have that most basic of fact, that only Sanders could have done it, I would have let him walk. If not, the justice system would probably have set him free. But Sanders now sits across town in his ten ...